Anna & James
"My new husband is James. We met at university and for a long time I just knew him as "James from Downstairs" so it took a while to even get to surname stage! Flash forward 6 years and James pulled off the most super romantic and surprising proposal. He arranged a family lunch near Cambridge, but his family all seemed to be late and we walked through Granchester Meadow (were we had been on one of our first dates) and then he popped the question. I was very surprised and it was super romantic!
We chose Cain Manor as our wedding venue - we both just loved it as soon as we visited. The house is so beautiful - it felt really special but also nice and laid back. Having the place for 24hours for our friends and family to enjoy was ideal as all our guests were travelling. Cain had a date available for the bank holiday weekend 7 months from viewing the venue. We asked around our family and friends and everyone was free that weekend. It seemed meant to be and we just went for it.
One of the only concerns about the 7 months to plan the wedding was whether I could get a dress. My mum, sister and I cleared our weekend plans for the following weekend and tried to plan a dress shopping weekend. I called Boo Bridal and as soon as I spoke to Emma she was so reassuring and positive about my plans and timing. I was concerned about trying on a dress I would fall in love with and then be told there was not enough time to get it - Emma promised she would not let me try on any dresses we couldn't get in time.
We had the best appointment trying on dresses at Boo - the shop is such a lovely space, we enjoyed sipping on bubbly and Emma & Anna were so helpful. Catherine was the first dress I tried and I loved it! The fabric was so delicate and floaty, the embroidery so beautifully intricate and the dress felt so easy to wear. Anna suggested a veil which picked up the motif from the lace on the edging and with the veil on I became a bride - and my mum cried!
I loved every moment of my Boo journey - even having my measurements taken! I feel Anna & Emma really listened when I told them how I like my clothes to fit and I did not want to be restricted by my dress. Emma did magical adjustments and got it spot on! She was also very patient when I turned up with two pairs of shoes for my fitting and took a while to choose to go with the blue ones.
James & I had the best day on our wedding day. Everything went to plan and we were able to just totally relax and enjoy it all! This is credit to the wonderful suppliers that we met and who worked so hard to make everything just as we wanted. Shout out to Sue & Hannah at Lavender Hill Florist for such magical flowers, Lucy at LuLu's Cake Kitchen for the stunning & delicious cake, Ben Williams for wow-ing our guests with his magic and our wedding band, The Cheers, for keeping everyone boogieing all night.
Our day was all captured so perfectly by Sarah Fishlock - she worked non stop on the day, got on so well with all our guests and was so good at not being obtrusive but getting all the best shots. We are loving reliving it all with her pictures.
We were so lucky to have friends who had traveled across the world to celebrate with us, the speeches we all totally awesome, a tennis match even started at one point and we were just so giddy and happy all day!"